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BUSH

Surreal: George W. Bush paints Spain’s ex-PM

Former US president George W. Bush has paid homage to his political ally and good friend former Spanish Prime Minister José María Aznar by painting a portrait of him and posting it on Instagram.

Surreal: George W. Bush paints Spain's ex-PM
Aznar was given a private tour of the Dallas art show by Bush himself on Wednesday, capturing the moment in a photo posted on the former US leader’s Instagram profile.

Aznar has had to share the limelight with 30 other political leaders who Bush has portrayed in his art exhibition “The Art of Leadership: A President’s Personal Diplomacy”.

Spain’s former Prime Minister was given a private tour of the Dallas art show by Bush himself on Wednesday, capturing the moment in a photo posted on the former US leader’s Instagram profile.

The pair have reportedly been close friends since their terms in office, when Aznar supported the US’s invasion of Iraq in 2003 and sent over Spanish troops in support.

Photo: Stephen Jaffe/AFP

Other world leaders featured in Bush’s oil painting collection include Russia’s President Putin, former French President Jacques Chirac, Afghan leader Hamid Karzai, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair.

The politician-turned-painter has been slammed by some art critics for using copyrighted images from Google and the Associated Press to base his paintings on.

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BUSH

Hundreds of fans celebrate ‘Wuthering Heights’ day in Berlin

Hundreds of red-clad fans of British singer Kate Bush on Saturday staged flash mobs in Berlin as they reenacted her classic hit "Wuthering Heights".

Hundreds of fans celebrate 'Wuthering Heights' day in Berlin
A flashmob in Melbourne, Australia, celebrates Wuthering Heights day in 2017. Photo: Tracey Nearmy/AAP/dp
Bush wrote the song aged 18, inspired after seeing an adaptation of the 1847 novel Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. 
   
The lyrics are attributed to the novel's character Catherine Earnshaw, pleading at the window of Heathcliff, the man she loves, to be let in. Bush had recorded it in 1978 dressed in red and it was her most successful single.
   
Hundreds of fans gathered in Berlin's central Goerlitzer Park under light rain, recreating Bush's moves for a performance lasting about four minutes, an AFP photographer said.
   
Earlier, about 100 men, women and children in Sydney also staged a similar dance in a city park. Other flash mobs are scheduled in Sydney, Dublin and the Netherlands.
   
The “Wuthering Heights Day” was launched in Berlin a few years ago and has spread to other cities.
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